Miracle cat uses up at least seven of its nine lives: Animal hospital staffers in Marion, Mass., examine a stray cat that fell out of tree, plunging 80 feet to the ground, after spending at least a week in its branches. Amazingly, the feline, dubbed Fortunate, suffered only a couple of pulled muscles.

Sorry about your tail. I thought it was a carrot: Three Farrows (Swabian-Halle pigs) - one who's a bit underendowed in the rear-appendage department - root around for morsels on the floor of their Berlin Zoo pen.

Photo: Britta Pedersen, AFP/Getty Images

Sorry about your tail. I thought it was a carrot: Three Farrows...

Sorry about your tail. I thought it was a carrot: Three Farrows... Photo-3975250.54661 - SFGate

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This man gets paid to frighten young girls: "Serengeti Steve" of Reptile Experience thrusts a squirming lizard into the face of 11-year-old Alyson Varble in Alton, Ill. Steve holds the Guinness World Record of 17 minutes and 17 seconds for holding a venomous live scorpion in his mouth, which explains a lot.

Seat taken: A bench along the flooding River Thames in Pangbourne, England, provides a resting spot for birds of a feather.

Photo: Oli Scarff, Getty Images

Seat taken: A bench along the flooding River Thames in Pangbourne,...

Seat taken: A bench along the flooding River Thames in... Photo-3975251.54661 - SFGate

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She regularly walks camels for a mile: Bambi Brook of the Sanctuary for Animals leads Ted and Azuri on a walk around Westtown, N.Y. The camels are back from Radio City Music Hall, where they were performing in the Christmas Spectacular.

Photo: Tom Bushey, Associated Press

She regularly walks camels for a mile: Bambi Brook of the Sanctuary...